Syncoda LLC

Abstract

• We are a group of PhD-level scientists and engineers who have transitioned our roles to technology managers. From our experience in academia, industry, as well as in international law firms working as patent agents and attorneys, we came to realize that the patent system is severely flawed, and law firm interests typically are not aligned with those of tech companies. As such, we have started a Startup to provide intellectual property services for tech companies and universities in exchange of shared royalties or equity instead of upfront fees.

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Additional Questions

Who is your customer?

• Our customers (technology buyers) will have access to state-of-the-art technologies that have passed our rigorous screening--as we focus on those with true values because of our awareness of higher risks involving "bubbled" technologies; our clients (technology sources) will be able to focus on innovations while entrusting us for our highly aligned interests and our experiences in both industry and IP.

What problem does this idea/product solve or what market need does it serve?

• Misaligned interests between tech companies/universities and law firms;
• Broken patent system that favor large tech companies with unlimited budget for patent filings;
• Bubbled patent system (particularly in China) that favors the number of patent filings yet stresses little on patent commercialization;
• Existing tech transfer offices are often bound by their respective institutions.

What attributes will make this idea/product successful? Why do you believe that those features will create success?

• The compelling advantage is our interest being aligned with those of the clients, resulting from our innovative business model.

Explain how you (your team) will execute to make this idea/product successful? What gives you (your team) an advantage over others already in the market or new to this market?

• We screen hundreds of projects by universities and tech companies, identify the best ones, sign contracts with these sources to monetize the IP for them; we then file and manage the patents, market the patents, and then share the profits with our clients; in some cases, we become equity holders providing our IP services in the capacity of in-house counsels; in some other cases, we license/sell the patents and share the royalties with our clients; for projects not passing our screening, we offer services for fees similar to the traditional law firm model, and generate revenue stream from this leg to support our service-for-equity leg.

Team Leader

Feng MA

The University of Texas at Austin

I have obtained a PhD in astronomy, a PhD in EE, done postdoctoral research in microelectronics and in radiation oncology, has over 50 publications including 10 articles in Science, Physical Review Letters, Applied Physics Letters, IEEE transactions as the lead or sole author; an inventor of several patents, and switched career and worked for law firms for 7 years prior to starting Syncoda with an innovative "service-for-equity" business model.